Increase II // Pastor Robby Emery // Nov. 16th

Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_01 (00:00):
I'm not saying this for any other reason, but just

(00:02):
to remind you.
I was sitting at home this weekand I think I was watching
football.
And I it might have been, itcould have been about the same
time you're praying, watching afootball game, you're praying
with men in the church.
And all the way in all AnnArbor, Michigan, I just felt
like a little voice text.

SPEAKER_00 (00:24):
Hey Chief, this is why I call him, I call him
Chief.
Hey Chief, I just want to letyou know how incredibly
impactful you've been on mylife.

SPEAKER_01 (00:35):
That when I was a young communicator, long before
I had kids over 20 years ago, Iheard you preach the message.
I heard you preach a message ina small church in Grand Rapids,
Michigan.
And I heard the grace of Godpreached in a way that I never
heard before.
I heard the love of God preachedin a way I've never heard
before.
I heard about a Jesus in a waythat I've never heard before.

(00:58):
This is a guy who is a youthpastor.
This is a guy who's beenpreaching at that time five
years or so.
And I heard a message thatchanged my life.
So here's what I'm saying toyou.
Your pastor, your leader, theman, the man standing in the
gap, if you will, yourintercessor.

(01:18):
I'm telling you what, like he isanointed and blessed of God, and
he has been for generations.
And I want you to know I standon the stage because of him.
So here's what I tell people nowI don't want to be known as a
great communicator.

SPEAKER_00 (01:36):
I want to be known as a grace communicator.
The uh I didn't come up withthis.

SPEAKER_01 (01:44):
A different head football coach did.
And he was telling his footballplayers, he said, Hey, this is
how you have joy.
This is a head football coachtelling a bunch of Division I
athletes, this is how you havejoy.
This is the order, don't mess itup.
This is joy.
Jesus, others, and you.

(02:06):
Jesus, others, and yourself.
That's how you have joy.
You want to know people who havetrue joy?
They have Jesus in the right,Jesus first.
And then others.
I'm gonna live for Jesus, I'mgonna serve others, and remember
if serving is beneath you, thenleadership is beyond you.
I'm gonna serve others, and thenI'm gonna work on myself.
I'm gonna be a better version ofmyself.

(02:28):
I'm gonna walk into a room andmake people feel really good.
They may never remember what yousay, but they'll always remember
how you made them feel.
And so that's how you achievetrue joy.
People are trying to find it ina lot of different ways, but
that's how you achieve true joy.
And so I did this.
This is how my brain works.
I flipped it.
Now you can't read joybackwards, it doesn't give you a
word.

(02:49):
It's not a word backwards.
But I did find a couple lettersin joy that make the most sense.
So what I did is like, insteadof the word joy, you know how
when you ruin joy, it becomesY-O-U?
It's you first.
You worried about you, youtaking care of you, you living
your selfish life.
Then it's about you, youcomparing yourself with others,

(03:10):
not serving others, it becomescomparison and not serving.
And you know what the you is?
You is undecided.
You don't have, you don't,you're not living for something
bigger than yourself.
You're not, you're the part youplay is not, that which you're a
part of is not bigger than thepart you play.
You're the captain of your ownisland.
And so today, my hope, my hopeis that you would find joy.

(03:32):
My hope is that you would seeJesus.
My hope is that you would beginserving others.
My hope that you'd say, like,hey, I want to be better
tomorrow than I am, I want to bebetter tomorrow than I am today,
and I'm gonna work on myself.
And really, that's what we'regonna share today because Paul's
talking to this young man by thename of Timothy, and I'm gonna
share you some things that Paulgave Timothy.
In regards to this, our seriesthat we're talking about

(03:53):
increase.
That we all need increase in ourlife, or all so desire increase
in our lives.
I just let me just do thisagain.
I I feel like I've been a youthpastor for 30 years.
It's like, look, look at mystage.
Anyways, um, I am not a goodpreacher unless I have a prop.
I mean, believable.
So hey, let me just ask you aquestion.

(04:14):
Does anyone have anything infront of them, like anything
like pressing?
Uh maybe maybe you havesomething stressful in your
life, maybe you have maybe youhave an exam coming up, or you
have an interview coming up, oryou have something in the future
that, man, this is this is kindof like what I'm thinking of.
If you didn't just just hold upyour finger, just do this, just
one finger, it's not a big deal.
Just yeah, you got oh, yeah,everyone in there?
Cool, cool, cool.
All right, no money, no oneelse, everyone else is just

(04:35):
perfect living stress free life.
Come on, you got everyone, yeah.
I'm gonna come talk to youbecause you're doing it well.
I just hold that, hold that.
No, that's weird.
I know, I got it.
You're holding your finger up, Iget it, I get it.
Now I want everyone to focus ontheir finger, focus on your
finger, focus on the thing youhave over the next few days.
Focus, man, I still gotta doChristmas shopping.
You know, my Amazon cart isfull, but I've yet to pay for it
because I'm waiting on thebonus, you know.

(04:59):
So now you're focused on yourfinger.
I want you to focus on, keepyour finger up, but focus beyond
your finger right now.
Focus on something past yourfinger.
Did your finger disappear?
You can kind of see through yourfinger now, right?
It's kind of weird.
You're like you can actually seeyour finger becomes transparent,
right?
Here's what I want you to do forthe next 25 minutes.
I I know that's in front of you.
I know that you have it, but youcan literally look beyond that.

(05:20):
Though it's not gonna disappear,literally, but you can look
beyond it and stay focused inthis moment and receive what God
has for you.
You see, a lot of times I'mlike, I have these things in
front of me, but God's wantingme to do something as well.
And he says, I know that it'sstill there, you're still gonna
have to go through the jobrevenue, you still have to buy
Christmas presents, you stillgotta get excited for the new

(05:42):
year, all the things are gonnaprep for the holidays coming up.
But if you'll just focus on mefor a few minutes, if you'll
just lean into what I have foryou.
Have you ever asked God forincrease?
And then felt like he startedtaking things away?
You prayed for a blessing and hebrought brokenness.

(06:03):
See, we think increase meansaddition, but in the kingdom,
increase often begins withsubtraction.
Before God fills your life,he'll filter your life.
I can do all things throughChrist.

(06:24):
One of the reasons why we're notaccomplishing all things is
because we're not running himthrough the filter of Christ.
We're just eating coffee beans.
God doesn't just want you tohave more, he wants you to have
more room.

(06:44):
Before he pours out rain, heremoves the rocks.
Because if I try to pour thisinto this, this is you, this is
God.
And God says, Hey, I want to dosomething in your life.
But man, there's there's allthis time of doing things that

(07:07):
really are not truly making adifference.
There's there's these things inyour life called sin that you
have allowed to come in yourlife over the past few weeks and
months and years that are stillthere that you've yet to give
over to me.
There's still some weights inyour life that are not
necessarily bad things, butthey're holding you back from
getting to your destination inthe time that God wants you to

(07:29):
get there.
And so God says, I'll pour out,I'll pour out, but it's just
gonna splash over.
It's not gonna get in, and thenwhatever gets in is still not
gonna be large enough toovercome what's already in your
life.
And so God says, Here, here'swhat I need you to do: I need
you to remove these things.
I need you to get down and tobusiness and getting rid of the

(07:50):
sin and the rocks in your lifebecause God, here, let me say
this.
God forgives us of our sin, butwe still have to stop sinning.
We we we go down on our kneesand we ask God to forgive us,
and he's faithful and just toforgive us of our sins.

(08:12):
But the reason why we still faceit is because we didn't get in a
group to confess our sins,because James, right, when we
confess our sins one to another,that's where healing happens.
Forgiveness happens here,healing happens here.
And God says, I need to pourout, I want to pour out, but
you've got too many thingsinside.
And today is about getting ridof those things.
It's asking God to forgive us,to remove those things, to get

(08:35):
those things out of our lives.
The problem isn't the poor, theproblem is the capacity.
God's not withholding yourblessing.
He's just waiting to have foryou to have room for it.
I'm gonna say this.
I believe God's got blessing forall of us.
I I I I didn't say this in firstservice, I didn't think of it

(08:58):
until now, but I have in I havein my closet a bunch of Jordans,
like tons of them, that I didnot even buy.
Like, because of where I get towork and serve, I get them all
the time.
Like I get so many shoes, Ican't even wear them all.
I'm just trying to make youjealous.
Um, I do, and there's so many,and I and and I like the ones

(09:22):
that are comfortable sometimes.
Those Jordan ones are not ascomfortable, you know, they're
worth a lot of money, butthey're not worthy wearing it.
So I just keep them.
And I'm doing it on purposebecause I have a 14-year-old son
who's here today.
That he's he's slowly getting tothe place where he can wear a 10
and a half or 11, right?

(09:42):
And what he doesn't know, that Ihave a closet full of blessing
for him.
That I'm just waiting for him toget mature enough.
I'm waiting for him to growenough.
And then one day he's gonna goto this closet of blessing, and
he's gonna have to fly his shoesin all of high school.

(10:03):
See, God's got blessing for you,but he's waiting for you to
mature and get old enough.
It's there, it's waiting, butI've got God cannot bless where
he doesn't have access in yourlife, and so he has to have
access.
I've got to make a way for him.

(10:24):
Psalm 65 and 10.
This is our theme scripture.
You drenched the plowed groundwith rain, melting the clods and
leveling the ridges.
You soften the earth withshowers and bless its abundant
crops.
That's what God is doing in theseason.
He's softening the hard things,he's melting away the stuck

(10:45):
things, and he's revealingwhat's buried.
We come to church and we we hearwe hear the word of God
preached, and we think maybe Ishould change this, or maybe I
should walk in a different way,or maybe I should lean into this
opportunity in the church.
And I want to say yes to that.
Because if we're this speakingtoday, it says, like, man, I
hope they hear this.

(11:05):
I hope that's a good word.
I hope that's a good word forsomebody.
If you're thinking that, it'sfor you, just so you know.
It's for you.
That impression that God gaveyou is not for somebody else,
but it's for you, for you toreceive.
The same rain that bringsblessing also brings exposure.
So if you've been asking God,why are you shaking things up in

(11:28):
me?
Be maybe it's because he lovesyou too much to let the rocks
remain.
He's removing so he can release,he's pruning so he can produce.
He's not punishing you, he'ssimply preparing you.
So in 2 Timothy 2, if you'llstand with me, I want to read
this scripture.

(11:57):
It says this.
You then, my son, be strong inthe grace that is in Christ
Jesus.
It's the apostle Paul speakingto Timothy.
He says, You're my son, my sonin Christ, you're my son in the
Lord.
And I ask you, do you have anysons in the Lord?
Do you have anyone that you'rementoring, that you're raising

(12:18):
up, that you're building, thatyou're helping find their
pathway in the kingdom of God?
He said, In the things you'veheard me say in the presence of
many witnesses, and trust to thereliable people who also be
qualified to teach others.
What he's saying is the purposethat I'm telling you, the
purpose that I'm gonna gothrough these next steps with
you, is so that this can bepassed along.

(12:40):
The reason why I need theserocks removed from my life and
so God can pour in blessing.
Because this in here will neverhelp anybody.
But if I empty all this out andGod pours into me, then what's
in me can actually have been abenefit to somebody else and the
gospel he carried on togeneration and generation.

(13:02):
Because what happened is this isyou.
You're one of these links inthis chain, but you weren't the
first link, someone else was,and they invited you to church,
and generation and generationand generation, someone's here
because of someone else, andthat's how the gospel is going
to be carried out that you're alink in this from one group of

(13:25):
people, from one generation tothe next generation, and then
there's all this over here.
This is free church in fiveyears, free church in ten years.
And the only way this happens isthrough a link.

(13:48):
The only way, Timothy, this isever going to make a difference
is I've got to be included inthe process.
This is all of us, all of uslinking up, all of us connecting
from one generation to the next,from one group to the next.
And so, Timothy, this is how youdo it.
He says, endure hardship with uslike a good soldier of Christ

(14:08):
Jesus.
No one serving as a soldier getsinvolved in civilian affairs.
Ah, to be a good soldier, I'mnot getting involved in civilian
affairs.
Sounds like social media to me,Timothy.
He wants to please hiscommanding officer.
Similarly, if anyone competes asan athlete, he does not receive

(14:31):
the victor's crown unless hecompetes according to the rules.
And then the hardworking farmershould be the first to receive a
share of the crops.
I believe God wants to increaseus as a church, us as
individuals, us as families.
But for him to allow increase tohappen in us, I first have to

(14:52):
remove some things in my life.
I have to make sure that mylife, if I want my assignment,
it has to deal with my alignmentwith God.
And so I want to be alignedproperly today.
God, remove anything thatshouldn't be.
God, so I can receive everythingthat I need to have.
So bow your heads with me, pray.
Heavenly Father, I thank you.
God, I thank you for our church.

(15:13):
I thank you for this opportunitythat we have to be able to come
in your presence and have thingsexposed, not for negative
reasons, but for positive ones,so you can pour into us a fresh
anointing, a fresh calling, newdreams, new passions, God.
All of our things we're supposedto accomplish in this life, God.
So God help us to remove thosethings.

(15:34):
Help us to be open to what youhave for us.
And it's in Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
Amen.
You can be seated.
Paul writes to Timothy from acold Rome in prison, chained and
misunderstood, but absolutelyclear in his mission.
He gives Timothy three imagesthat summarize what it takes to

(15:55):
live a life of purpose.
Timothy, your life of purpose isto share the gospel.
And if you have these threemindsets, we will see it
accomplished in this life and inthe next.
Three different mindsets, threedifferent demands.
He said, if you want a greatlife, then you have to be like
the soldier.
The soldier is one of sacrifice.

(16:17):
You have to be like the athlete,the athlete is one of
discipline, and you must be likethe farmer.
The farmer is one of patience.
If you want to miss the marktotally, then be one helps do
selfish, bring drama to everysituation, and then live proud.
I've never served as a soldier,really not much of an athlete.

(16:37):
And the only thing I know aboutfarming is that it's really,
really difficult.
The soldiers to live a life ofsacrifice.
Paul says, endure hardship likea good soldier.
Soldiers don't run fromdifficulty, they run toward the
mission.
They operate with clarity.
No one is soldier meddles incivilian affairs.

(17:00):
They don't get involved withthat.
And Navy SEAL training they havein the courtyard or where
they're training for this elitegroup.
Is that there's a bell, and thatyou can go ring this bell if the
training gets too difficult, ifa task is too tough, then you go

(17:23):
out and you ring the bell, noquestions asked, you walk out
and you go live that civilianlife.
One man who completed thetraining, he said this the bell
isn't a sign that the trainingwas too hard, it's a sign that
the mission meant too little,that they lost sight of the

(17:44):
mission, they lost sight of thegreater good, and because they
lost sight of it, they chose toring the bell.
And I'm telling you, we're notin this to ring the bell.
We're not ringing the bellbecause when you understand the
gratitude or the the the justthe expanse of the mission, then
the sacrifice becomes so small.

(18:07):
Greatness requires you to ignorethe bell, to ignore the noise,
ignore the distraction.
If the mission matters, thesacrifice makes sense.
The life of the athlete, hesays, anyone who competes as an
athlete does not receive thecrown unless he competes
according to the rules.

(18:28):
I've never been much of anathlete.
I've never stepped on a D1 fieldand played a game of baseball or
the game of football.
I did play little league stuff,some pee-wee football, some
basic baseball.
It seemed like when you'replaying neighborhood baseball
and you're playing with the recleague in your community, that

(18:50):
the jersey you would get, youwould get white pants and a
white shirt.
And my whole goal in playingfootball or baseball was to get
the jersey dirty.
Because there would be days thatI'd go into my game to play
baseball, and I'd come home andjust hang up the jersey.

(19:11):
Because I never got in the game.
I just sat the bench.
But anytime I didn't have anopportunity to get in the game,
I'm sliding in the first base.
I'm diving in the outfield forballs that don't need me diving
for.
Rolling around on the footballfield just trying to get my
jersey dirty.
I want people to know that I gotin the game.

(19:36):
You see, the discipline of theathletes is that my whole
purpose is to get in the game.
I just don't want a jersey onwith my name on the back, saying
I belong.
No, I want to I want my name onmy jersey on the back and I want
to get in the game.
Let's go.
I want to get this thing dirty.
I want to make a play.

(19:57):
Last night, man, yesterday.
What a game.
Like a walk-off home run.
I don't know if you know whatthe game was yesterday, but if
you want to know if I'm prayedup, I'm definitely prayed up
after yesterday.
Anyone who competes as anathlete does not receive the
crown unless he competesaccording to the rules.

(20:19):
The rules, Paul would bespeaking about Olympian
athletes.
And the rules for Olympianathletes is that for 10 months
prior to them stepping into theColiseum, is that they had to
train.
They had to train for 10 months.
That was the rule.
They had to be disciplined for10 months in order to be
recognized in one moment.
They had to do the necessarythings each and every day so

(20:39):
that they could accomplish atask in the arena of among the
thousands of people.
You saying bolt train for fouryears for 9.58 seconds.
Most people want bolt speed butnot bolt schedule.
Nine seconds of glory costs him10,000 hours of discipline.

(20:59):
What disciplines do I need toreinstate in my life?
How's my prayer life?
How's my devotion time and theword of God?
What am I doing to make surethat the chain is not broken and
that my link on the chain isadding to another link on the
chain and adding to another linkof the chain?
Where's my discipline makingsure I'm following the mission

(21:21):
of God?
And then finally, the farmer isa life of patience.
The hardworking farmer should bethe first to receive the share
of crops.
Farmers understand the law ofthe harvest, they understand
what's going on during the time,but also farmers know.

(21:45):
They know how to wait.
But while farmers are waiting,they're actually working.
Farmers will be out theretilling the ground and removing
the rocks.
I got to remove the rocks fromthe field of blessing because I
don't want it to choke out myharvest.
Before the seed ever will grow,I gotta make sure that I'm

(22:07):
removing the things that don'tbelong in this life.
I'm removing the relationshipsthat end up tearing me down
instead of building me up.
I'm stepping away from thesituations that cause me more
harm than help.
I'm turning off the socialmedia, not just for a moment in
time, but for all time becauseI'm tired of the way it makes me
feel and how it makes mecompare.

(22:28):
I don't need to be on itanymore, I'm done with it.
I'm stopped leaning into thesedifferent ideas and also, you
know what?
I'm gonna stop living a life offear and anxiety.
For God has not given us thespirit of fear, but of power and
love and a sound mind.

(22:48):
We're we lean more into thenegative things of outcome than
we do the positive outcome.
I tell people all the time, itcan happen negatively, it can
happen positively.
Let's focus on that.
Man, you receiving it today?
A farmer plants seed, he cannotsee.

(23:09):
He wakes up early, tills thesoil, he fights weeds, he trusts
time.
You can't rush a harvest.
Patience is not passive.
Patience is I'm waiting, butwhile I'm waiting, I'm still
working.
While I'm waiting, I'm makingsure I care so much about this
harvest.

(23:29):
There's no there's nothing I'myou can't take care of a harvest
watching it from the porch.
I hope that rock doesn't hurt myharvest.
No, no, no.
I gotta take care of the harvestby getting down on my knees,
making sure there's no rocks.
I here's what I need.
I need some dads.
I need some dads to go insideyour most protected place in

(23:53):
your home.
I need you to look in that homeand make sure there's no rocks
that'll crush the harvest callof your family.
I gotta get rid of this stuff.
As a leader of my home, I don'twant to impair my children in
any way.
We're back there on the porch.
Well, I hope that rock doesn'thurt the hurt that corn coming
up, and God says, it will.

(24:13):
Why don't you get off the porchand go pull that rock out?
Hard working, it's not easy.
The removal of what will hindermy harvest and my growth is not
easy, but pain breaks pride,pain reveals truth, pain removes
what you didn't even know washolding you back.

(24:33):
I say, Oh man, God is doingsomething.
I see that rock, and what am Igonna do?
I need to remove it.
Listen to me, teenager, listento me, 20-something, listen to
me.
You've got to remove it.
Listen to me, husband.
Your screen lock picture is thegreatest fight against the
adversary in your marriage.

(24:56):
If it's your favorite sportsteam, you're doing it wrong.
Yeah, I know you love your dog,but you're doing it wrong.
Let it be your spouse, let it bethat family picture.
Because I'm telling you what,there's gonna be a rock, and if
I see that family picture, no,that rock's gotta go.
There's people got their phonesout right now.

(25:17):
Oh, gee, I'm changing it.
I repent of my sins, Jesus.
Some of you got Justin Fields onyour screen lock.
Need to be JJ McCarthy.
No, come on.
When God wants to elevate you,he first wants to empty you.

(25:39):
Joseph didn't discover hispurpose in the palace, he
discovered in the prison.
David's anointing wasn't provenon a platform, it was proven in
a cave.
Paul didn't write his greatestletters from comfort, he wrote
them from chains.
The harvest is hard, but theharvest is worth it.
The training, the training seemshard when we lose sight of the

(26:01):
mission, but the mission isworth it.
I'll never receive a crown if Ifirst don't have a cross.
Scripture reminds us for ourlight and momentary troubles.
Is that scripture up there?

SPEAKER_00 (26:17):
Do we have that?
I don't know if I sent it.
There we go.
Are what for us achieving?

SPEAKER_01 (26:26):
They're in our benefit, they're working for us,
they're helping us for us aneternal glory that outweighs
them all.
I don't have this in my notes,I'm trying to remember it, but
like the discipline is soimperative to us.
That discipline today weighsounces, but the regret of our of

(26:50):
the regret weighs tons.
And so I want to be disciplinedin what I do so I don't regret
what I do.
I want to be disciplined in whatI'm going after and the things
I'm going for.
Because God measures pain bywhat it produces, not by what it
costs.
And so I'm in there, I'm lookingat, I'm looking at this
beautiful field that God hasgiven me, whether it's the
whether it's where I work,whether it's where where I play,

(27:11):
whether it's where I live, allthe areas of my life, and God
has given me this field, andthis field is my responsibility
to plow.
This field's my responsibilityto take care of.
God's gonna send the rain, andwhen he sends the rain, it's
gonna reveal the rocks.
When he sends the rain, it'sgonna reveal the clods, the
clods of the hard clay, justlike rocks that I need to be
removed.
The clods of the hard clay thatonce was dirt, but somehow got

(27:32):
got clogged up, you know, it gotbecame clay, and so you gotta
get rid of that too.
I love that.
That once was a part of thefield, now is hurting the field.
You say what once was a part ofyour life, if it's hurting your
life, God says, I need you toremove that too.
I need you to get rid of thatbecause that's what the rain
begins immediately.
And that's why I'm seeing thosethings.

(27:53):
And every season of my life, I'mseeing those things.
Whether it's the icy seasons,the winter times, farmer knows
that this frozen time of mylife, this frozen season is not
going to last.
And because it's not going tolast, doesn't mean I'm gonna
stop or just gonna staystagnant.
I'm still gonna be busy, stillgonna be working, still gonna be
doing what I need to do.
Because even in the icy season,you'll see farmers out on the

(28:16):
field.
Even when there's no cropsgrowing, they understand they
haven't even planted seed yet,but then the icy season, the
ground begins to freeze andbegins to push rocks up to the
surface.
And so even when their season isnot harvest time, they're still
going to the field, grabbingsome rocks, looking at it every
day.
And sometimes we only look atour field, our life, every
Sunday.
But God says, I need you to lookat that every day.
Come on, get on your kneestoday, look in the Word of God

(28:37):
today, find some place ofdevotion today, and when you do,
rocks will be revealed.
I need to get rid of thosethings.
Then the rain will come.
And sometimes the rain comesbefore I even have planted a
seed.
But that rain that God sends,the rain is to wash away the
things that I do see so He canreveal the things I don't.

(29:00):
I gotta remove it before theplanting season becomes because
I'm gonna the planting season'scoming.
And the planting season is atime where I'm gonna take what
God has blessed me with and I'mgonna sow it because then
there's gonna be a harvest, aharvest of blessing, a harvest
of plenty.
But I've got to take all thesedifferent times and I've got to
be in it.
I've got to be removing thethings that would block out the
harvest.

(29:22):
The plowing begins to happenafter the rain comes.
Now I'm gonna go out and plowthis ground, this ground that is
now moist, this ground that'snow been saturated from heaven,
and now I'm going to go back andI'm going to plow.
Breaking new ground, gettingback out there.
No seeds have been planted, noneof that's been done yet, but I'm
still working.
You understand what I'm saying?

(29:43):
I'm still going after it, I'mstill putting in the time
because eventually there's goingto be a blessing, there's going
to be a harvest, but I have todo what I can do, and then God
will do only He can.
Hosea 10 and 12 says, Break upyour fallow ground, for it's
time to seek the Lord till hecomes, reigns righteousness on
you.
Gotta break it up.
The Bible says you drenched theplowed ground with rain, melting

(30:08):
the clods and leveling theridges.
The proud plowed ground.
Not hard.
Fallow ground.
If you refuse to plow, and thenwhen the rain that God sends
comes, it will just wash away.
It'll just fall to the side.
And God is calling us.
Proud ground invites God's rain.

(30:29):
Hard ground repels it.
Which ground will you be?
When God sends the rain, what'sgonna happen?
How is it going to take place?
And so what I need to do in mylife is I need to repent.
How do I do that?
I repent of what I've done,things I've said.
Do you know how often I repent?

(30:49):
Every day.
Every day.
Why?
Because I'm human.
I repent for things I didn'teven know I did.
But it's a true story.
Me and God got a relationshiplike me and my wife.
I'm sorry.
But that's how it is.
Because my relationship with Godis God, I'm human and I'm flawed
and I make mistakes.

(31:10):
I'm sorry for having thatthought.
I'm sorry for saying that thosewords.
I'm sorry for walking in thoseways.
I'm sorry for doing that.
I repent, God, because I've gota harvest coming and I'm tilling
this ground each and every daybecause God is going to send a
blessing.
He's gonna send it.
He's got it for you, He's gotincrease for you.

(31:33):
But I have to prepare the soil.
Preparation happens beforetransformation takes place.
We're here today because 120people stuck it out.
They stayed with it.
500 people saw Jesus ascend toheaven.

(31:54):
And before he left, he said, Iwant you to stay.
Tarry here, and I'm gonna sendyou the comforter.
75% failed.
75% said, You know what?
I'm out.
120 says, No, we're staying,we're leaning into this.

(32:18):
We know a blessing and a harvestis coming, we know something
miraculous is coming, and sowe're going to stay.
We're gonna be like the goodsoldier and not involve
ourselves with civilian affairs.
We're gonna be like the athleteand be extremely disciplined,
and we're gonna be like thefarmer, understanding that God
will send a blessing, but he'swaiting on me to work, he's
waiting on me to tarry, he'swaiting on me to remove some

(32:39):
things in my life that's gottabe removed.
And so I'm preparing, I'mpreparing.
What do I need to do, Lord?
What rocks might be hindering myharvest?
Let me just speak to you and Ineed you to be ready to
surrender.

(33:00):
What relationship do you need toend right now?
What secret relationship do youneed to end right now?
What's the thing in your lifethat you only you know that you
need to stop doing?
What adjustments do you need tomake?

(33:23):
And what you look at on theinternet to truly fulfill your
life, you got some unforgivenessin your heart.
Man, how are you treating yourspouses?

(33:44):
Because if I don't honor mywife, the Bible says that my
prayers are not heard by God.
So I can love God with all myheart, and He wants to pour out
a window of blessing for me.
But if I treat her bad, thatwindow is never opening up.

(34:07):
God forgive me of how youtreated a wife.
What grudges are you holding?
Because I'll tell you thisyou're not holding a grudge,
that grudge is holding you.
And you're gonna come acrossthis.

SPEAKER_00 (34:29):
Come here, Matthew.

SPEAKER_01 (34:30):
I'm not gonna make Pastor Chuck jump over here.
Come on.
Young people want you to look atme, church.
Look at me.
These young people, I want youto look at me, right?
Look at us up here.
I'm gonna be in my life.
And Pastor Chuck is this for me.
I've literally said, I'veliterally called him on the

(34:51):
phone.
I've called him on the phonewhen leaders of our world have
made mistakes.
And I've said past, I said,Pastor Chuck, oh when I call him
Pastor Chuck, he knows, allright, Robbie's about to talk
real serious to me.

SPEAKER_00 (35:02):
Because it's chief, and there's Pastor Chuck, and
they're like, Alright, I gottabe that guy in his life now.
I said, Hey, is there anythingin my life that shouldn't be?

SPEAKER_01 (35:12):
I said, if you see it before I do, please tell me
because I don't know why, butthis and this, I can't even
smell this, and it's like a halfinch from my nose.
And there's some things in yourlife that you don't even see.
You don't smell, you don't, youdon't have that, you don't do
it.
But we're gonna be out in thefield.

(35:32):
Come and get in the field withme.
Get down.
We're in the field.
And and the reason why I calledyou over here is because in my
field there's something reallybig that I can't get rid of it
without your help.

(35:52):
I can't I can't do that on myown.
I need you.
Are you good?
Can you help me with that?
Are you mad that that's in myfield?

SPEAKER_00 (36:05):
Are you surprised that's in my field?

SPEAKER_01 (36:11):
Are you glad I asked you to help me get it out?

unknown (36:15):
Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 (36:19):
See, so many of you are living with things so big in
your life that you're like, Ijust can't get rid of it.
And the reason why?
If you've not pulled someonealongside you and said, hey,
will you help me?

SPEAKER_00 (36:34):
I can't get over this addiction.
I can't get over this issue, Ican't.

SPEAKER_01 (36:45):
The Bible says, if I confess my sins, he's faithful
and just to forgive me of mysins.
What Jesus, the brother, James,the brother of Jesus, said, if
you confess one to another, andyou'll be healed.
Healing's not happening in yourlife is because no one knows

(37:07):
what you're going through.
And God just wants you whole.
And maybe today there's a lot offorgiveness that we need to ask
for.
There's some repenting that weneed to do.
Repenting is turning away fromsin, but more importantly, it's

(37:30):
turning to Jesus.
Maybe you're here today andPastor, I'm I'm good, actually.
You woke up this morning andrepented.
Maybe you just don't haveanything.
I want you to know that Godwants you to have a fresh
anointing.

(37:51):
He wants you to have a freshexperience, a fresh calling.
Because some are living onstale.
You got saved five years ago,and you're still, that's all
you've ever done.
You've never taken another stepin your relationship with God.
You never allowed God to developyou and grow you or a God
deposit new things in you.

(38:12):
It was several years ago, andI'm closing several years ago.
Me and my son Silas were in thebasement, and he found one of
his old remote control cars thathad been down there for a while.
And he said, Dad, can we playwith it?
I said, Absolutely.
And so I turned it on and itwouldn't operate.
So I opened up the back end ofthe car and where the batteries
were, and I looked at it, andthe batteries had been in there

(38:32):
a long time, and they had theyhad eroded, and the acid from
the batteries had gotten intothe car and had destroyed the
car, it no longer would operate,and no longer would go.
All because we didn't put freshbatteries in it.
What once powered it actuallydestroyed it because it wasn't
fresh.
That's why we have so manybitter Christians, so many bad

(38:55):
Christians, is because theydon't get a fresh anointing,
they go and get a fresh touchfrom the throne of grace.
You might say, I'm good, I'mgreat, and God's wanting to pour
blessing out on you.
And this is you, all filled up,and God says, I want to pour
blessing in your life.

But here's the thing (39:14):
even though you're filled up with
good things, God can't pour newthings into you.
I'm so filled up.
God wants to do a new thing inyou.
So I pour myself out each andevery day because I want a fresh

(39:36):
anointing.
I don't want stale anointing, Idon't want stale passion, I
don't want stale dreams, I wantsomething that's fresh from the
throne of grace.
So today, I'm calling us to atime of repentance.

(40:00):
God, I repent from not comingback and getting a fresh
anointing.
I repent from not coming backand being filled once again with
your spirit.
I repent from coming back andnot going deep into your word
and going deep into arelationship with you.
I repent of that and alsorepent, God, of the things I've
done wrong.
God, the rocks in my life that Ihave been there for so long

(40:21):
because I've not asked someoneto help me remove them.
God, the decisions that I'vemade that God are contrary to
your word.
Help me get on the right path soI can reach my destiny.
So today, it's about thesacrifice of the soldier, the
discipline of the athlete, andthe patience of the farmer.

(40:45):
God's got a harvest, God's got astorage of blessing for you.
He's just waiting for all of usto get mature enough to receive
it.
All over this room, bow yourheads with me.
All over this room.

(41:05):
Gentlemen, I'm gonna tell youthe greatest way to repent.
If you're a if you're a husbandand maybe you've mistreated your
wife or not honored her the wayyou should, you ask God for
forgiveness right now, and I'mtelling you what, just grab her
by the hand.
And I'm telling you what, thatslight little gesture without
words in this moment, words willhappen later without words in

(41:26):
this moment.
I promise you, healing willbegin to happen in your
relationship.
You just grab her by the hand.
You're in this room today andyou're asking God to forgive
you, forgive me of my sins.
You just have to ask, you justhave to speak it.
God, forgive me of my sins.
God, help me get rid of theserocks in my life.
God's gonna forgive you, buthe's gonna challenge you to go

(41:47):
out and do the necessary things,the disciplines to be able to
remove the things in your lifethat shouldn't be.
He's not gonna end therelationship, you have to do
that, but he'll forgive you forthe relationship that you've
been in.
He's not gonna stop you fromsinning, but he's going to
forgive you of sinning.
You have to do the work to stop.
He's faithful to forgive, but Ihave to put in the work to see

(42:12):
his will fulfilled.
All over this room, begin topray, begin to talk to God,
begin to speak your words.
It doesn't take long, it's notmuch, it doesn't go far, but I
God, I'm sorry.
And I turn to you.
I've got off mission for alittle bit, God, but I'm back
on.
I thought about ringing thebell, but God knows I'm sticking

(42:35):
with this.
God, I've not been asdisciplined as I should, but
God, I'm gonna stay as adisciplined athlete.
God, I know you have a harvestfor me, so while I'm waiting for
that harvest, I'm gonna beremoving some things in life so
you when you pour out ablessing, it waters those seeds
to turn into the blessing thatmy home needs, that my life

(42:55):
needs, that my coworker needs,that this world needs.
With every head bowed, every eyeclosed, no one looking around.
If you've never given your lifeto Christ, if you've never said
yes to Jesus, I want to give youan opportunity to say yes to him
today.
Whatever that looks like foryou, I want to say yes to Jesus.
Maybe it's been the first time,or maybe the first time in a

(43:16):
long time.
I've repented of my sins.
I've forgiven, I've walked away,I've turned my life around.
If that's you today, you want toask Jesus into your life, when I
count the three, just raise yourhand.
One, two, three.
Hands up, hands up.
You're included in this finalprayer.
Thank you for the hand, sir.
Thank you for the hand, ma'am.

(43:36):
Thank you so much.
Thank you, sir, thank you, thankyou.
With every head bowed, every eyeclosed, no one looking around.
I want you to pray this prayerwith me.
Everyone in the room, say it outloud.
Heavenly Father, I realize todaythat I'm a sinner and I need a
Savior.
Jesus, forgive me of my sins.
Jesus, I repent of my sins and Iturn to you.

(44:00):
Today, I confess with my mouthand I believe in my heart that
Jesus Christ is Lord and Godraised him from the dead.
Today, I say yes to Jesus Christin Jesus' name.

unknown (44:16):
Amen.

SPEAKER_01 (44:17):
How many are ready for increase in their life?
Come on, clap your hands and letus take the Lord together.